"In 2017 My True Love Gave To Me...
4 Happy Farmers
(3 playful kitties, 2 gay roosters, and a home of our very own)"
The first time I attended a PTA meeting in New Richmond I was asked by a non-member friend, "Did you feel like you fit in?". As a dreadlock-wearing, artist-emerging, fresh-from-Las Vegas city girl all I could say was, "I'm honestly not sure fitting in is what I'm going for". And that was true. I tried my whole life to "fit in" only to realize I'm much better at standing out. But here, in the country, I feel like we've found the perfect fit. Now, I'm not saying I believe my kids will remain in the country all their lives, but for now, I think they are having some memorable experiences and gaining serious life skills they can take with them wherever they go. Meet 4 happy farmers!!
Meet Chris Aka...Daddy. Chris is really the reason why we're here. I am still constantly amazed at how in tune this guy who grew up in the deserts of Nevada and Las Vegas is with the earth and all things green. Every year, it's Chris who plans the garden, plants the seeds, tends the seedlings, while the rest of us watch, help occasionally, and enjoy the bounty that comes of his careful toiling. He is self-taught, knowledgeable, persistent, patient, and super hard-working. Besides keeping us well-fed, it is also Chris' profession as a college professor that allowed us to make our move to Wisconsin when we did, without a real plan. It is also the flexibility and income of his position that keeps our homestead dreams alive, keeps one of us tending to the home, farm, and family, and allows us to pursue our business, which I am grateful for daily. It is also Chris who came up with the clever idea for YB Urban? products. Chatting one evening he said to me, "I've always wanted to make soap and call it YB Stinky?". Who am I to stand in the way of a man and his dream? And so it was born. Chris IS the farmer in this family. I have never seen a guy quite so happy riding around on a tractor, putting his hands in the dirt, teaching his children self-sustainability, or canning enough pickles to get us though a zombie apocalypse.
Meet Angie Aka...Mommy. Hi! That's me. I'm the face behind the table at a festival, the voice behind the keyboard, and the only one here who has ever made pate from a chicken I raised and killed myself. Most days I still can't believe how much I love this life. I always assumed I would end up in a big city, surrounded by the noise and energy of a million other people going about their day. At the time I started to pursue art and crafting as a profession was also the time I started reading about people making their move from city-to-farm. Something about voluntary simplicity connected with the idea of freedom to create and I was sold. I'm a wife, and mom, an artist, a maker, a serial entrepreneur, a party hostess, a writer, a photographer, a chef, a yogi, a homebody, a housekeeper, and a lover of animals. So far in my life I have lived in 7 different places, from cities like Seattle and Memphis, to small towns like Menomonie, WI. I've traveled throughout the country and beyond, and I still have only found our country life to be able to sustain all that I am in perfect balance. It's the only way I have found to be everything I want to be while still ever only needing to be myself. I love the quiet, I love the community, I love Mondays when the kids go off to school and Chris goes off to work and my house hums with whatever I decide to get into that day. Finding complete freedom is what defines success for me, and I define mine as a love for Mondays.
| | Meet Kai Aka...Skill Shot. Kai is our soon-to-be tween boy who thinks turning 10 requires a cell phone of his own. He's the one most likely to run off to the city at first chance with only his tablet, computer, and video games in tow. Kai's made it pretty clear he would rather live in a highrise apartment building with plenty of shops in the lobby and a pool on the roof, but he is still happy to participate in our country life. He is the keeper of the chickens. Every morning he is responsible to let them out of the coop, feed and water them, and check for eggs, and every evening with his big stick in tow, he puts them to bed. He learned how to ride the lawn tractor this summer, and played a big part in clearing out the forest. He'll help around the house and in the garden as asked, but he's really most in his element making videos for his You Tube channel, playing video games on the Wii and Xbox, or curling up on the couch with the latest "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" book. He also gets plenty of kicks annoying the crap out of his sister. |
Meet Ani Aka...Little Miss. Sweet, fiercely independent, creative, and sometimes sassy. Everyday Ani changes her mind about where she might live when she's older...next door to Kai, next door to her Auntie Tabetha in Colorado, next door to us so she can visit the cats everyday...these are a few of her ideas, and being only (almost) 8 years old, she has plenty of time to figure that out. Ani loves many things from doing gymnastics in the living room, to riding horses at our friend's ranch, to playing Minecraft on the Xbox...one might say she's a "little bit" like me. Mostly, Ani loves animals. She is the keeper of the cats, lover of horses, bunnies, and dogs. Animals will pretty much let he do whatever she wants to them...squeeze them, hug them, hold them like babies...from cats to chickens, she has a way of making them love her without even trying. I feel like she's really in her element out here. She told me the other day she'll soon have to learn how to make all the stuff I make because "someone has to take over YB Urban? when you die, mommy". Putting aside the morbid death comment, I swelled up with joy a little at that thought. Not only because Chris and I would love to build this homestead as a place for future generations to grow with it, but also because I could see her loving this life as much as I do.
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